May Focus of the Month: Bhastrikā and Kapālabhāti Prānāyāma
A yogi recently told me that rain is nature’s breath. Rain nourishes nature, it cleanses the Earth… just as our breath can cleanse us, providing nourishment to help us thrive. Breathwork helps to calm our stress and bring balance to our body. Have you ever stopped to notice your breath when you feel physically and emotionally stressed? If you haven’t, then try noticing next time. When we are stressed it affects our breath, causing it to become faster and shallow, which in turn limits the oxygen entering the bloodstream.
Pranayama is the Sanskrit word that describes the breathing exercises, what we call ‘breathwork’ here in the west. According to the ancient Indian system, prana is our universal life force. This energy that flows within us keeps us alive. The breathwork, or breathing exercises, have the ability to quickly increase our energy, release stress, improve our mental clarity, and improve our physical health.
“Prana has many levels of meaning, from the physical breath to the energy of consciousness to kundalini shakti to the original creative power. Yogis say that the entire universe is a manifestation of prana.“ ~ Sejal Shah
So our prana can refer to the energy of the power of our mind, like our connection to the essence of our being. Yet it can also be defined as our literal, or more physical, source of energy… food, rest, having a calm happy mindset, and our breath.
The word ‘prana’ refers to the universal life force and ‘ayama’ means to regulate or lengthen. So essentially we can control the power of our breath through breathwork and that can give us an increase in life energy, maintain health and create a calm, clear state of mind.
Bhastrikā & Kapālabhāti Pranayam
Our focus of the month is on clear breathing and mental clarity through two prānāyāma techniques- bhastrikā and kapālabhāti. Bhastrikā means ‘bellows breath’ and Kpālabhāti literally translates to ‘skull’ (kapala) and ‘light’ (bhati), so it is known as the ‘skull shining breath’. These breathing exercises help to increase our prana. They energize our body and help to release stress and toxins we may be holding physically and/or mentally.
In Ayurveda, May is the last month of kapha season and thus we can still be dealing with some of the qualities of kapha into the month of May. Most common is congestion from allergies which can oftentimes lead to dullness and fogginess of the mind.
Use the links below to learn more about these two forms of prānāyāma and how to practice them.
https://chopra.com/articles/how-and-why-to-perform-bhastrika-breath
https://chopra.com/articles/release-toxins-with-kapalabhati-breath
The rain gives life to the trees, flowers, all that is living including us. It supports life on land. There is something refreshing and soothing about the air after it rains. I guess you can say the energy that it carries. We too can feel that through prānāyāma. Let the rainy spring season inspire you to tap into your breath a little more, enjoy the view and energy of a rainy day, and give gratitude to the rain for all that it provides us and our breath for its wisdom.